Fire crews battled a large blaze at a strip mall in the Onset area of Wareham, Massachusetts, on Sunday afternoon that damaged multiple businesses and sent one firefighter to the hospital.
The Onset Fire Department says it received an alarm via the municipal fire alarm system for 3086 Cranberry Highway around 11:38 a.m., followed by a subsequent phone call reporting a fire in the large multi-occupancy commercial building.
The first firefighters on scene found heavy smoke and significant fire conditions inside two of the businesses, so help was requested from several communities.
The Wareham Fire Department said on social media around 12:30 p.m. that they were on scene assisting with the structure fire on Cranberry Highway in Onset, which was closed between Red Brook Road and Main Avenue.
In all, approximately 60 firefighters helped extinguish the blaze. One firefighter suffered an injury and was taken to Tobey Hospital where they were treated and later released, the fire department said.
Once the flames were brought under control, fire crews found a hazard condition in one of the stores that had a large quantity of Lithium-Ion batteries as part of their business. A hazardous materials response team was requested to help identify and mitigate the hazard, the fire department said.
The building where the fire broke out includes multiple businesses, including a Rent-A-Center, a hobby store and an antiques shop.
Not Your Average Antiques, one of those stores, said in a Facebook post around noon that their store was on fire.
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"The hobby shop upstairs is where it originated," the post said. "My business is gone! What a nightmare."
There was no immediate word on the fire's cause. An investigation is underway.
